An unconventional nuclear localization motif is crucial for function of the Drosophila Wnt/wingless antagonist Naked cuticle.

ABSTRACT: Wnt/beta-catenin signals orchestrate cell fate and behavior throughout the animal kingdom. Aberrant Wnt signaling impacts nearly the entire spectrum of human disease, including birth defects, cancer, and osteoporosis. If Wnt signaling is to be effectively manipulated for therapeutic advantage, we first must understand how Wnt signals are normally controlled. Naked cuticle (Nkd) is a novel and evolutionarily conserved inducible antagonist of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling that is crucial for segmentation in the model genetic organism, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Nkd can bind and inhibit the Wnt signal transducer Dishevelled (Dsh), but the mechanism by which Nkd limits Wnt signaling in the fly embryo is not understood. Here we show that nkd mutants exhibit elevated levels of the beta-

SUBMITTER: Waldrop S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1569797 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature